


Goodbyes

by Rainah (RainahFiclets)



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-09 22:54:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3267416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainahFiclets/pseuds/Rainah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Everyone cries in airports</i><br/>Kitty says goodbye to Joan</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

> Really wanted this scene. Wrote it quick n dirty so forgive any errors, I'm just not ready to see Kitty go.

She called Sherlock from the airport. The decisions were made, there was nothing left to do but say goodbye. She had made her choices.

"I want you to know this is the last time I'll be using this phone..." But all of Kitty's rehearsed script fell away. The _I love you_ was entirely spontaneous, foolish even, and she hung up so she wouldn't cry on the phone.

_There are always people crying in airports._

It didn't matter. If Kitty was being honest with herself she would have done nothing differently. There would never be a resolution to the way she felt, the darkness that crushed her rib cage and burned like fire across the deadened nerves on her back. She had to content herself with small victories:

The beast that took her was gone.

No one else would be taken.

After six years, she could say the words "I love you" without fear.

As she walked through the airport she let the tears swell, heading through the security checks for her flight. 

"No baggage to check, miss?" They were far too professional to comment on her slowly smearing mascara.

"Just a carry on." Clothes, the money she had saved. She didn't need anything else.This was intended to be a new start.

"Is London your final destination?"

"No, I don't think so." She had hunted serial killers. She could make it through an airport. "I'm not sure where I'm going."

"Well, I hope you have a great flight." Her ticket was handed back to her and she was walking through security.

She called Joan.

The tears were falling more thickly now, closing up her windpipe. She had nothing rehearsed, nothing planned beyond a desperate need to reassure.

"Hello?"

"I'm leaving," Kitty said quickly, getting right to the point. "To London, and then to somewhere they can't find me. Sweden, Morocco, Japan. Somewhere I can still be a detective."

"Kitty..." She could hear the confusion in Joan's voice. Could hear the exact moment when she swallowed. "I have the utmost faith in you."

"I wanted to thank you. For being who you are. For being there for me, when I was Sherlock's protegee."

"Of course-" But Kitty cut her off.

"I hated you, in London. The way Sherlock talked about you. Like I could never measure up." She would not, _not_ start sobbing in the airport. Silent tears was one thing, sobbing was quite another.

Because she remembered those first few months of training, remembered the constant refrain of _Watson did it in half the time. Watson had this all memorized by now. Watson didn't argue with me_ and how it all blended together into _you are not good enough._ How she stalked Joan through the streets of New York, reveling in her normalcy. How Joan had welcomed her, taught her, and defended her. Joan, who took a chance on her.

One of several.

She had said goodbye to the others. There was a note on Bell's desk, and a very long email for Gregson. She'd even sent Ms. Hudson flowers. This was the last goodbye.

"I love you," she chokes out. They were calling her gate.

"I love you too," Joan is steady, as always. "Stay safe, Kitty. Keep-" _Keep attending meetings_ , probably. _Keep seeing your therapist, keep locking the door at night because you're damaged, not wrong._ "Keep safe." is what she finally says.

"Keep Sherlock safe," Kitty orders. "I'll write when I can. I- goodbye." She hangs up the phone because there's nothing else to say.

They were calling her gate and she had a future to build.


End file.
